A spring long weekend among the castles of Bavaria

Neubeurn, Prien, Herrenchiemsee

We leave Varese at 5:30 in the morning, heading for the Brenner.

Mid-morning we make a technical stop at Neubeuern, a colorful village between Innsbruck and Salzburg, and a little later we arrive at Prien, a charming little town on Lake Chiemsee (in German "see" means lake).

We find our hotel without difficulty (Seehotel, booked as is our habit via an internet site) located very close to the lake.

Prien is the departure point for the ferries to visit the Herrenchiemsee palace that rises on a small island in the middle of the lake.

This is the first of the castles we'll visit, the fruit of the imagination of the legendary Ludwig II of Bavaria.

The palace is a reproduction of the palace of Versailles, since Ludwig II was inspired, in everything, by Louis XIV. Here, among the sumptuous rooms, we find a hall of mirrors even larger than the one at Versailles. We have lunch at the palace self-service, with outdoor tables and a view of the beautiful fountains of the park.

On returning to Prien, we take a short stroll among the little shops in the center and have dinner in one of the restaurants on the lake shore

Burghausen, Munich

We leave early, heading for Burghausen.

The town is dominated by a fortress, to be precise "the longest fortress in Europe."

We then walk the walls along their entire length, admiring the view from above that looks out, on one side, over the colorful town below and, on the other, over a green lake.

We head, as soon as possible, toward Munich, where we'll spend the night.

With map in hand we find our Hotel (Hotel Tannenbaum) located in the center, near Sendlinger Tor. More complicated will be finding a place for the car, since we discover that the affiliated parking garage is closed on Sunday.

In the early afternoon we begin visiting the city: the Asamkirche (an opulent church, rich in decorations), the Marienplatz, the heart of the city, and then the grand Residenz.

The Residenz is a large royal residence. The entire visit would require hours of time. We admiringly visit the royal apartments and in particular the most important room called the "Antiquarium." We also recommend a visit to the palace theater, Cuvilliés Theater, a true architectural gem.

We have dinner in one of the historic places in Munich, Augustinerbrau, an old Augustinian brewery, now used as a typical restaurant (normal prices). The interiors are very distinctive. If time and the crowd allow, we recommend the tables in the inner courtyard. In any case, to secure a table, reservation is mandatory since the place is always very crowded.

Nymphenburg, Schleissheim, Linderhof, Fussen

We drive to the western outskirts of Munich to visit the Nymphenburg palace.

It's a large white palace, surrounded by enormous fountains and waterways, consisting of a central body plus a series of buildings placed in the huge surrounding park.

For reasons of time, we visit only the interiors of the palace, which gave birth to the famous King Ludwig II. Noteworthy is the beautiful entrance hall decorated in pastel colors and the "gallery of beauty," with the portraits of the most beautiful ladies of Munich.

A stop at the book shop (present in every castle we'll visit) and then quickly off toward the Schleissheim residence, north of Munich.

This palace too consists, like the previous one, of a central body, a grand park and 2 other smaller palaces placed in the park. We visit the new palace, characterized by enormous decorated halls. Here, unlike all the castles we'll visit, there's no furniture, but the decoration of the rooms is so impressive that you don't even notice the total absence of furniture.

At the end, we take the highway toward Garmisch for the visit to Ludwig's second castle: Linderhof.

It's a small but extremely sumptuous castle, where Ludwig loved to isolate himself. The rooms are small, designed for a single person but of unbridled luxury.

The park is beautiful and the fountains are scenic. Absolutely not to be missed, a visit to the artificial grotto, complete with a little lake, the fruit of the genius and madness of the King.

We get back in the car to go to Fussen, where we'll spend the night.

The route from Linderhof to Fussen seems short on paper but in fact it isn't. However, the landscape is breathtaking, especially when you drive alongside a beautiful blue mountain lake.

Fussen is a very colorful town, with a nice pedestrian area full of little shops (a shame that on Sundays they're all closed). We take some photographs because the place deserves it.

Moreover we're very enthusiastic about the choice of our hotel (Hotel Hirsch, medium price), with a beautiful pastel-colored facade, charming furnishings in elegant Tyrolean style and a canopy bed in our room.

Hohenschwangau, Neuschwanstein and back

Breakfast at our beautiful hotel doesn't disappoint, and right after we head to the very nearby Neuschwanstein castle.

After 10 minutes we've already arrived at the third and unfinished castle of Ludwig.

We first visit the nearby and more modest yellow castle of Hohenschwangau, then move on to the more famous white castle of Neuschwanstein.

The ticket office is a single one for the 2 castles and is located in the parking area. At the ticket office it's all bureaucracy and they assign us a visit number like at the health service. We therefore have to arm ourselves with all possible patience to wait for our turn and to stand in line for the shuttle bus that will take us to the top of the hill, near the castle (alternatively you can use collective horse-drawn carriages).

We take some photos on the Marienbrucke panoramic bridge, the only point where it's possible to photograph the castle in its entirety, in all its complexity.

Finally we face the steep but short climb that separates us from the castle entrance, but every effort is repaid. The castle is unique of its kind. The most astonishing rooms are the throne room and the singers' hall. It's here that Ludwig gave his best and we'll say no more.

Our trip really ended on a high note; it's really the case to say so.

DANI AND MAX to learn more, visit our website:

texts by Daniela photos by Max